A statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II, in her Garter robes in the early years of her reign, will feature in the new national memorial being planned in London.
The final design for the central London tribute has been unveiled to coincide with what would have been the late Queen’s 100th birthday on Tuesday.
A bronze statue of the Queen in her 20s will stand overlooking The Mall, at the entrance to the St James’s Park memorial, designed by renowned architect Lord Foster, and inspired by a famous portrait.
It will feature a family of gardens through the park with meandering paths and a new translucent, glass unity bridge – likely to be called the Queen Elizabeth Bridge – inspired by the late Queen’s wedding tiara and replacing the current Blue Bridge.
A smaller statue of her consort, Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, in his Naval uniform, will be a “few paces behind” the Queen, looking up at his wife of more than 70 years.
A statue of Queen Elizabeth II in a model of St James’s Park in London during a preview for the Queen Elizabeth exhibition. Credit: PA
The likeness of the Queen by sculptor Martin Jennings will take inspiration from the celebrated 1955 portrait of Elizabeth II by Italian artist Pietro Annigoni.
The Queen sat for Annigoni at Buckingham Palace in late 1954 when she was just 28 and the Renaissance-style painting was completed the following year.
The statue will stand 7.3 metres high – with the Queen three metres tall on a 4.3-metre plinth – in a new civic space called Queen Elizabeth II Place at Marlborough Gate on the edge of the park.
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The smaller companion statue – 3.8 metres in height with a 2.3-metre figure and a 1.5-metre plinth, of the duke, will be located 20 metres behind in the park.
Philip will be represented at a similar age, wearing his Admiral-of-the-Fleet uniform.
The King, Queen Camilla and other members of the royal family will view maquettes of the planned statues and a scale model of the wider memorial when they visit the British Museum on Tuesday, as part of events commemorating what would have been the Queen’s centenary.
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The figure they will see of Philip, in his uniform, shows the duke standing as he often did with both arms behind his back.
The appearance of both statues will be further refined during the sculpting process.
The Queen’s former private secretary, Lord Janvrin, chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee, said: “We thought it was very important that the statue of the Queen, our head of state, was on the ceremonial route in her own right.
“She will be depicted standing, on her own.
“But Prince Philip was such an important part – they worked as a team – of the realm that we’ve decided that he should be a few paces behind the Queen – a position he was accustomed to.”
A statue of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh. Credit: PA
He added: “Prince Philip will be looking up because she is on a slightly higher pedestal.”
Lord Janvrin said the Annigoni portrait was a “lovely, iconic image of the young Queen.”
He added: “We think probably most people would like to be remembered when they were young.
“But at the Birdcage Walk end, we will have a bust of the Queen in what I call her later years, not very old, but probably when she was in her fifties, sixties.”
The bust of the more mature Queen will be crafted by artist Karen Newman for the other side of the park.
The memorial is expected to be completed in 2028.
A statue of Queen Elizabeth II in a model of St James’s Park in London during a preview for the Queen Elizabeth exhibition. Credit: PA
It is one of three projects underway in honour of the Queen, with a new charity, The Queen Elizabeth Trust, and a Digital Memorial also launched on Tuesday.
The Digital Memorial aims to create a “living archive” made of the public’s personal memories of the Queen.It will digitise the Court Circular – the daily record of official royal engagements – and bring it to life, mapping key events from the Queen’s reign.The public will be asked to contribute their recollections via the website Queenelizabeth.com – which was previously owned by the luxury cruise line Cunard for the Queen Elizabeth ship, but was donated by the company after a request from the digital memorial.
Joe Garner, the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee member who specialised on the digital memorial, said: “We could create the most phenomenal archive.”
He suggested it could develop into adding cinefilm and photos from the public, and would be expanded to map memories from around the globe.
Recorded footage of memories from celebrities, including Olympian Tom Daley and artist Dame Tracey Emin, already features on the new site.
This is the Talking Royals – our weekly podcast about the Royal Family, with ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship and Producer Lizzie Robinson.